Columns

Bad guys return as Italy lies in a coma

In Britain you have pantomine at Christmas. We have it in Italy, too, only we
call it politics. All the characters are there: Silvio Berlusconi as Widow
Twankey, the socialist leader Pier Luigi Bersani as the Ugly Sister, Matteo
Renzi, the Bambi-like young mayor of Florence as Prince Charming, and Beppe
Grillo, a professional comedian — you could not invent it — leading the
opinion polls until recently, plus an assortment of other improbable cartoon
characters who would put Westminster’s finest in the shade.

And that’s even after the cabinet photograph with the Queen. It would be
hilarious if it were not so sad.

As an interim, Mario Monti, the unelected prime minister who remains caretaker
after resigning before Christmas, has done his best. He has taken the first
steps to set the country on the path to economic recovery. He has carried
through some modest measures to reform the pension system